Elon Musk predicts that Tesla will have 1 million robotaxis on the road by 2020
Its been reported by CNBC that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed that the company should have robotaxis on the roads by 2020.
He stated that he felt confident in predicting that autonomous robotaxis will be on the road next year.
He went on to say that the Teslas will not be available in all jurisdictions as there wont be regulatory approval everywhere, but there will be regulatory approval somewhere as early as next year.
Musk claimed that all Tesla cars currently being produced have the necessary hardware required for complete autonomy.
Musk went even further by also predicting that within two years, Tesla will be producing vehicles with no steering wheels or pedals.
The Tesla CEO then made the bold claim that he expects to have over 1 million robotaxis operational by next year, adding the caveat that sometimes he isn't on time, but gets it done.
That caveat may be justified given that In the past, Musk's forecasts for Tesla have been over-optimistic.
Musk and a Tesla Director, Pete Bannon, said at the Tesla Autonomy Investor Day in Palo Alto, California, that their latest chips are designed to process massive amounts of data quickly, without significantly heating up, or draining the vehicles' batteries.
Current Tesla vehicles can be equipped with Autopilot, which is a driver assistance system. This technology can, in effect respond in similar ways to a human driver, in respect of keeping a vehicle in its lane, as well as adjusting speed according to road conditions and hazards. Within Teslas Full Self Driving (FSD) technology, features include a summon facility. This technology allows a driver call their Tesla to roll out of a parking space with no driver on board, as well as a facility to navigate on autopilot. It is believed that Tesla's should be capable of responding properly to traffic lights as well as stop signs, and drive automatically on city streets very shortly. Even with FSD, Teslas cannot handle every aspect of driving without any human intervention.
Musk has in the past claimed that Teslas are 40% safer than others when drivers have Autopilot engaged, however that claim has been debunked by independent researchers,
Source Image: Pexels
Source Author: Tony R. Whincup
